The rag doll ‘Lad’ was sewn by a craftswoman Vera Krasko especially for the large author’s project “Any Time is a Blessing”. The figure has a pairing doll “Maiden” — a young bride in a bright red floral sarafan dress. Together they make a composition “Youth”.

In this project, Vera Anatolievna creates dolls in traditional folk costumes. She gives a new meaning to the theme of childhood, youth, growing up, and gradual aging. In one of the interviews, the craftswoman said, “Most of all I love the family theme, motherhood. My favorite composition is “Any Time is a Blessing”.

The craftswoman made the base of the doll from a wire frame. The head, torso, and legs were sewn from cotton fabric and stuffed with padding polyester. The hairstyle was formed from cotton waste. It is a coarse fiber of short staple that remains from the primary cultivation of hemp, fiber flax, or Calcutta hemp. Vera Krasko sewed the doll’s clothes from natural fabrics.

The craftswoman manually sewed part of the ‘Lad’ doll, but some of the seams were made with the help of a sewing machine. Thanks to this combination, the doll got a clear silhouette and the impression of handmade work was still preserved.

The doll is dressed in a Russian national costume, blue woolen trousers, birch bark bast shoes, and a pristine white linen shirt with traditional scarlet flowers embroidery. The craftswoman imitated it with a thin ribbon.

In Russian, the word for the pristine white color originated from the word ‘kipen’ — the foam that is formed when water boils or when the waves move rapidly.

The costume is decorated with bright shades of red, which symbolize youth, beauty, and fertility. The combination of colors indicates that this is the future father of the family. After the first kids are born in the family, neither the husband nor the wife could wear such colors anymore. The shades became duller and duller with time, and elderly people wore shirts, trousers and skirts that were sewn mainly from brown, blue, and black fabrics.
The doll maker Vera Krasko was born in 1958 in the village of Nikolaevka in the Tuymazinsky district of Bashkortostan. She graduated from the Ufa State Petroleum Technological University and worked as a leading engineer for many years.

Vera Anatolievna started sewing in 2013, when she first visited the classes of the ‘Gamayun’ Museum Center. Later, the craftswoman independently mastered the technique of making a rag doll, and in 2016, a personal exhibition of her works was held in the museum.

Полное наименование предмета: Lad
Дата создания: 2016
Техника: cotton fabric, wool, lace, cotton thread, flax tow, button, ready-made birch bark bast shoes, wire, padding polyester, manual and machine sewing, weaving
Место создания: Yekaterinburg
Владелец коллекции: “Gamayun” Museum Center
Размеры: 31×15×6.5 cm
Номер в Госкаталоге: 8813589

Vera Krasko, a craftswoman specializing in making dolls, graduated from the Ufa State Petroleum Technological University and worked as a leading engineer of the production department in the service center for the repair of drilling and oil field equipment of OAO ‘Gazpromneft’. She first took up decorative and applied art in 2013, and three years later, her solo exhibition ‘Oh, This Maslenitsa! ’ (Maslenitsa is a folk holiday celebrated during the last week before Great Lent) was held at the ‘Gamayun’ Museum Center.

One of the items was ‘Maiden’ — a doll peasant bride. Together with another doll, ‘Lad’, it formed a composition ‘Youth’ of the big project ‘Any Time is a Blessing’.

Vera Krasko dressed the girl in a scarlet ‘sarafan’ dress made of Baranov calico fabric with a floral pattern. The dress of such silhouette was made up of three straight pieces of fabric. Between them, six to eight wedges with triangular linings were sewn. The number varied depending on the length of the lower hem. A sarafan of this shape and color was not a casual dress — women put it on for the wedding celebration.

In the 19th century, the merchants Baranovs from the Vladimir governorate founded a factory for the production of fabrics. Elegant Baranov calico fabric combined shades of ruby-colored, ponceau, scarlet, Turkish red colors. The latter was obtained with the help of madder. It is a plant-extracted colorant made from powdered madder root. These fabrics were very popular among girls.

The doll wears a wide headband with a floral ornament, which does not hide the hair and does not cover the top of the head. This detail indicates that the girl has not gone through the wedding ceremony yet. Married peasant women always covered their hair with a headscarf immediately after the ceremony.

The doll’s shirt is called “polikovaya”. It is a traditional Russian women’s type of shirt, made of fabric rectangles and squares. On the shoulders, you can see red inserts which are called ‘poliki’. They were often decorated with embroidery or cut out entirely from scarlet cotton fabric.

The artist used trimming to imitate traditional embroidery on the sleeves. This pattern depicts the world tree — the symbol of eternal resurrection, connection with the ancestors, and fertility.

Vera Krasko’s project “Any Time is a Blessing” is dedicated to the author’s vision of different stages of a person’s life. In addition to the composition “Youth”, it includes a girl and a boy from “Childhood”, “Maturity” — a married couple with three children — and “Old Age” — an old man and an old woman in their declining years.

Полное наименование предмета: Maiden
Дата создания: 2016
Техника: cotton fabric, synthetic fiber, webbing, lace trimming, embroidery thread, beads, polyester batting, wire, ready-made bast shoes, manual and machine sewing, plaiting
Место создания: Yekaterinburg
Владелец коллекции: “Gamayun” Museum Center
Размеры: 29×14,5×7,5 cm
Номер в Госкаталоге: 8813593